How is coaching perceived by leaders engaged in a global talent management and leadership

development programme?Institute of Coaching Conference, Boston, 18-19 October 2019

Leadership Coaching Research Symposium

KARINE MANGION-THORNLEY

Coaching in Talent Management (TM) and Leadership Development (LD) programmes

Relevance• Talent war• TM and LD:

priority N.1 for CEOs

• Widespread use of coaching in TM and LD programmes

Objectives• Understanding coaching

as TM practice in global corporate environment

• Role of coaching for talent leaders at various stages in their career

• Specificities of coaching for TM and LD purposes

Methodology• Interpretivist

paradigm• Social constructivist

approach• Qualitative, inductive• Single case study• One multinational

bank, focus on EMEA region

What is the perceived role of

coaching for leaders receiving

coaching at various stages in their

career in a global organisation?

How do leaders, HR managers, internal and

external coaches perceive the contribution of coaching

in the context of a global talent management and leadership development

programme in a multinational company? How can coaching

intervention be construed in the context of global

talent management and leadership development?

Review of TM and coaching literature

Growing fields of study, emerged about 15-20 years ago. Initially led by practitioners, empirical research lagging behind. Empirical quantitative research conducted by global consulting firms (PwC, Deloitte) and professional bodies (ICF, CIPD...).

More qualitative studies needed for in-depth understanding of coaching as TM practice.

Lack of consensus on the theoretical frameworks (Cascio and Boudreau, 2016; Schutte and Steyn, 2015). PC theory used in TM studies to understand the reactions to talent status (Farndale et al., 2014).

Psychological contract as theoretical lens to understand talent coaching?

Data collected at employee/coachee level, to reveal the perception of TM and impact of coaching as a TM practice (Gallardo-Gallardo and Thunnissen, 2016a, Blackman et al., 2016).

What about the organisational level?

Most studies reflect the views of CEOs, executives and HR managers. Little empirical research on the role of coaching as it is perceived by the participants involved in GTM and LD programmes (Passmore et al., 2013)

What about the views of talent leaders, coaches, HR managers?

Dramatic increase of the practice of exec. coaching in MNEs. But,

What is being done? What is possible? What is the impact ?

Research design:

- Single case study

- Global firm in banking and financial services industry

- EMEA region- 55 countries

- Purposive and snowball sampling

- Semi-structured interviews

- Thematic analysis

Talent Management Programmes 1st round

interviews2nd round interviews

30

Programme A -Emerging leaders- VP 3 1Programme B- Growing leaders-SVP-D 4 1Programme C- Women leaders- D and MD 3 1Programme D- Senior leaders- D and MD 2 1

External coaches 3 2Internal coaches 2 1

HR managers and internal coach 3 0Programme managers 3 0

Total: 23 7

Thematic analysis (Nowell et al., 2017, Braun and Clarke, 2006, Clarke and Braun, 2017, Gioia et al. (2012)

Stage 1:

Preparation and pre-analysis

Stage 2:

Open coding

Stage 3:

Axial coding

Stage 4:

Theoretical sampling

Stage 5:

Data structure

1st round interviews: fieldnotes

Memos

Memos

Memos

1st order themes (informant-centric)

Emerging themes

Codebook 1

Codebook 2

Codebook 3

2nd order themes (research-centric)

2nd round interviews: fieldnotes

3rd order themes: Aggregated

dimensions and underlying themes

Continuous familiarisation with data

Roles of talent coaching

Junior and middle managers Senior and executive managers

• Extension of social capital

• Reputation- visibility

• Individual career path

• Confidence building

= SPONSOR/MENTOR

• Extension of human capital

• Leadership and work identity

• Space to think

• Management of emotions

= TRUSTED PARTNER, MEDIATOR

Heightened Psychological Contract (PC)

Coaching is not a panacea

Risk of PC breach when unfulfilled expectations

Factors of successful talent coaching

Talent Coaching

Long-term

Bespoke

Developmental

Inter-connective

Trustworthy

Reflective

Talent coaching continuum

Junior leaders Senior leaders

Directive interventions Non-directive interventions

Instructional/Feedback Sponsoring Mentoring Dialogic coaching

TALENT COACHING

Social and human capitalEmma (SVP): “And that’s

where coaching comes in –either on understanding it or having the coach that

will be your brand ambassador, or the mentor or the sponsor. You name

it.”

Coaching cultureCharles (MD-coach): “So, I see a need for coaching to

be embedded in the leadership. I see a need for leaders to be able to coach organisations through a lot of complexity and a lot of

uncertainty.”

InstrumentalisationEleonor, (MD)" [I] don’t

need to go all the way to Employee Relations [to

discuss an issue] (...) Coaching is by definition

more private, more intimate, more informal."

RhetoricOliver (MD): " I use it more as a kind of a ritual thing

and as an acknowledgement as

manager."

Social and human capital

• Network• Trust and affiliation• Knowledge and

confidence building• Bespoke career plan

Rhetoric• Symbol of high status• Way of doing vs being • Expectations vs

experience

Coaching culture• Coaching key

leadership competency

• Better conversations• Ripple effect

Instrumentalisation• Natural selection of

talent elite• Conflict resolution• HR as strategic

partners

INDIVIDUAL

ORGANISATIONAL

RELATIONAL TRANSACTIONAL

Role of talent coaching through the lens of psychological contract theory

Contributions and implications

Theoretical contributions on TM and coaching literatures:

1. Talent coaching as expectation of talent leaders in their extended psychological contract

2. Talent coaching perceived as enactment of the TM strategy

3. Talent coaching is a specific and context-sensitive intervention, embedded in the politics, power and people’s dynamics

Practical contributions:

1. Design of TM programmes according to needs and expectations of talent leaders at different stages of their career in the organisation

2. Preparation, training and supervision of internal and external coaches

3. How to develop a coaching culture through TM

Thank you!

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